Mark Udall at center of Senate-CIA spat

A partisan brawl has erupted behind the scenes on the secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, with the two parties at a bitter impasse over the panel’s highly sensitive review of Bush-era interrogation techniques.

Republicans say not only that the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), has provided selective information to the public about allegedly improper CIA conduct, they are also pointing the finger at Sen. Mark Udall.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the committee, even suggested a special investigator should be appointed in order to get to the bottom of what happened between the Senate and the CIA. Chambliss did not mention Udall in his comments.

Democrats counter that Republicans are now engaging in a partisan witch hunt aimed at hurting Udall politically and providing cover to the CIA and the George W. Bush administration’s handling of the controversial interrogation and detention program. Udall, who is in a tough reelection contest this year, denies the GOP accusation — something he reiterated privately to Republican senators and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The partisan showdown has derailed the committee’s activities for the moment, Senate sources said. Classified briefings on Iran and Syria scheduled for Thursday have been postponed so panel members can continue their fight over the investigation.

The GOP allegations are tied in part to Udall’s actions related to the nomination of Caroline Krass to serve as the CIA’s general counsel. Udall has threatened a hold on that nomination until the CIA answers more questions about its classified internal review of its detention program and interrogation techniques. At a Dec. 17 hearing on Krass’s nomination, Udall publicly revealed that the CIA’s own internal documents were in conflict with its response to a 6,300-page Senate report over the controversial post-Sept. 11 programs. The CIA announced its own review in 2009, but the probe received little attention thereafter because there were no public indications of its results.

In a March 4 letter to President Barack Obama, Udall obliquely mentioned an “unprecedented action taken by the CIA against the [Intelligence] Committee in relation to the internal CIA review, and I find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the Committee’s oversight responsibilities and for our democracy.”

Udall was referring to allegations that CIA officials improperly attempted to retrieve documents from computers used by Senate Intelligence Committee staffers to conduct their review of the agency’s detention program, as well as conduct electronic searches of those computers. Feinstein and some other Intelligence Committee senators are furious over these actions, saying the CIA is trying to avoid congressional oversight.

In addition, CIA officials made a criminal referral to the Justice Department claiming that Intelligence Committee staffers improperly removed a copy of the agency’s internal review of its detention and interrogation program files. Feinstein claims this was an effort to thwart the committee’s inquiry.

The day after Udall’s letter was sent to the White House, a New York Times story on the CIA-Intelligence Committee fight ran.

“I think Mark did make some public releases that were committee-sensitive information, but that’s for the committee internally to handle,” said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), a member of the panel. “That’s being reviewed right now.”

“If some of my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee really want to press the case that in referring to an executive branch abuse in my March 4 letter — what I called an ‘unprecedented action’ that the CIA had taken in relation to the internal CIA review — I have somehow violated committee rules, I am more than happy to have that debate,” Udall said.